Classic Rap Albums you Havent Heard Of

I love rap music and Im guessing if you clicked this link you do too!!! (Or you
hate black people and are here to make some semi-veiled racist comments and
probably wont even read this far because only racists dont like rap. TRUUUUU). It
doesnt matter if its some cyphering hip-hop, big beat in the pocket southern flow or
radio hip-pop, I love it in all its forms. (Im listening to this right now, I dont say that
because I think Riff Raff is a particularly good example of the southern jeezy beat
driven type style of rap but because I have an anacdote I want to share with you
about one of my friends who had a interesting run in with the rapper and Im
hoping some reader has footage of the event. My friend, who Ill call Pat because
thats his name works at First Ave. in Minneapolis. One night while working Riff
Raffs show, Riff whipped his mike off stage drilling my friend right in the face. My
friend has since become somewhat of a fan of him which I guess makes sense
because its not like you can go up to Riff Raff acting surprised like Hey man, what
were you doing throwing mikes all around the venue? What made you think thats
an O.K. life choice? When just looking at him should answer any questions down that
line of thought.
That aside, I do think that rappers who can incorporate word play and
lyricism elevate the music. While hip-hop has somewhat rightly so gotten a bad rap
(hahahaaha puns) for using the language of violence and sex, if you can see past this
veneer then you will see a level of word play, musicality and talent that has made
hip-hop the universal musical genre it is today.
This is a slightly deeper musical cut and you should stop here if you have not
listened to the prerequisite likes of Liquid Swords, Infinite, Outkast ETC. Here is a
selection of 5 albums that I think, while classics, have not received the same level of
attention and have largely faded from public view over time. So, go grab the CD
cover, grinder, lighter, papers/wraps/piece and whatever else you use in your
smoking kit and Let the madness begin. (another side note, why do black people
never smoke from pieces? I tried passing a bong to a black friend once and he looked
at me like I had asked him to go camping together in a Subaru station wagon.)

1. Heltah Skeltah Nocturnal


Heltah Skeltah is formed of the duo of Rock and Ruc from the relative hip-hop desert
of Brooklyn. They released their debut album Noctornal in 1996 to modest
commercial success and have continued to put out work sporadically since. I
however, was not made of aware of the filth that is Heltah Skeltah until 2010 when
Rock, aka the Rockness Monster, did a remix to the Monster beat. If you dont
remember the original, it was Kanye, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and Nicki Minaj rapping about
how they were the scariest/baddest motherfuckers in rap.

Hey Kanye, the fashion industry doesnt want you not because youre black, its
Because you propose shit like Leather Jogging Pants

Aaaaaand then came along Rock who starts his verse with Can you believe the D.A.
in there telling the Judge Im a mother fucking monster, chhhhh man, what the fuck,
everyone know Im a motherfucking monster, in apparent reference to the
attempted murder charges he was handed after a rival pimp was shot and left
paralyzed (rival is an key word there). He then spends the whole song celebrating
his acquittal adding some gems like That case over, hoooo, it been long enough, shit
had me being all crafty with my ignorance, fuck crafty Im spazzing, rather be
spitting killer shit, before ending with Rock filthy, but not guilty, Bfffffffff
hahahahahahahahahahahaha, (that should be read as a solid ten seconds of
continuous evil laughing.) Needless to say, I was intrigued and a little light googling
rewarded me with an album that has become a listening staple since.
Featuring great old school beats, word play and chemistry between rappers,
Nocturnal is classic that should be enjoyed by all.
Top Tracks.
Letha Brainz Blo
Soldiers Gone Psyco
Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka***
Prowl

6. Cunninglynguist SoutherUnderground (I recommend downloading the deluxe
version with bonus tracks and better quality)

Im sure many of you have heard of Cunninglynguist and remember them if for
nothing else than their name. They came out in the early 2000s during the height of
the Dark ages of rap and managed to release three classic albums that pretty much
nobody listens to. Their sophomore release remains my favorite to this day with
production by Kno and RJD2 and features by Master Ace and Tonedeff. Track nine,
Seasons, could be considered the gospel when it comes to an oral history of hip-hop
and details its origins and transformation to the commercial ice age of the 2000s
before predicting the coming spring renaissance of rap we seem to having, kinda
maybe embedded video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2diEBfz0Ko
Cunninglyguist are a truly talented group with the ability to address a spectrum of
topics and deserve be held up as one of the masters of southern Rap a la a backpack
underground Outkast. The group membership has changed and expanded over the
years and they continue to put out amazing albums with Strange Journey Volume
Three released this year to acclaim. You should probably go listen to them all
though.

Interesting sidenote/thing I discovered-Some guy did a study to compare the size of
popular rappers vocabulary by coding a program to compare the number of unique
words used in an artists first 35,000 lyrics to determine who had the most diverse
lexicon. For a benchmark, master of the English language Shakespeare clocks in at
5,170 while Cunninglyguist was near the top of rappers with 5,971 words (I guess
they really are cunning hahaha im hilarious) and Aesop Rock dominates at 7,392 to
nobodys surprise. Drake on the other hand posted a dismal 3,522 putting him on
par with the likes of Petey Pablo and Master P, though behind the Based God.

Top Tracks
Southerundergound****** 1:04-1:28 one of my all time favorite verses
Love Aint (both original and remix)
Seasons
Sunrise-Sunset
War- skip the intro till 3:42 mark



3. Murs 3:16 the 9
th
Edition

While some rappers seem to sing their raps on some almost R&B Drake type shit,
the mother fucking man Murs sounds like he could be sitting there having a real
conversation with you as he talks about life rather than acting like Pinocchio little
boys yelling about whos the the realist.

Its funny because not only do they spend all their time talking about how theyre real or how long
parts of their body are, but old white men are also the ones pulling the strings to make them dance!

If Murs were a skyrim character he would have a plus 100 persuasion skill
described by him as:
Cause the girl behind the counter is hookin' up the free meal
Not because I'm MURS or my MC skills
But because I have a personality that appeals
It's called a mouthpiece When I choose to spit
No "40oz For Breakfast" but I got the Gab Of Gift

As a proud Minnesotan, I came to Murs by way of Atmospheres Slug collaborating
with him through Felt (very worth a listen) and immediately clicked with his raps.
He was similar to Slug in that the subject of his raps described problems we all face
but lacked the nine-foot self-loathing emo vagina featured prominently in many of
Slugs popular songs(Sorry, I love you Slug dont worry, Honorable Mention
Overcast.) While I cant say that I identified with all of his songs telling stories of
what its like to be a black male growing up in L.A., songs like And This is For helped
me come to terms with my growing love of a musical genre dominated by black men
who seemed to have very little in common with me. (FYI my hometown is Wayzata,
Indian for north shore and quite appropriately nicknamed White-zeta) It seemed
like he was calling me out directly when he said shit like:
Any white boy who thinks he knows my struggle
Cause he listens to Pac and his adrenaline doubles

Now you could be down, but let's act growed up
Cause we ain't the same color when police show up
My culture's not a trend, being Black is not in
But for you it's just a phase you're gonna have to transcend
While even if I tried, I could never blend in
To society's mainstream, American dream

He goes on to talk about the growing portion of his fans that were white and the
reflexively withering of the black communities support. Upset, he saw his white fans
as posers or thieves to a black cultural movement. With actually talented white
rappers like Eminem rising on the scene he asks questions like:

What's the reason that my album doesn't sell like his?
And don't front like you don't know why the hell that is
It's because he's white, you can relate to his face
Through the years you've been taught that Black is unsafe
Plus it's only natural for your own to be embraced
Conscious or subconscious you can't say that ain't the case

Finally, he asks himself why would you listen to MURS' Black ass? before
answering his own question with:

Good music transcends all physical limits,
its more than something you hear, its something you feel,
when the author and experience and passion is real.

Link to cracked article how listening to different musical genre affects peoples
sociological views, country more racist, rap opp.


Top Tracks (The whole album is only 35 minutes so just listen to it)

And yes 9
th
really does make these beats on fruity loops


4. Binary Star Masters of the Universe

One Be Lo and Senim Silla came together briefly in the late 90s to produce a single
album. They dedicated themselves wholeheartedly for over a year, barely eating,
never going outside for more than few hours everyday, and spending all their
freetime locked in their rooms writing raps, aka they got sent to prison together.


Police brutality, bringing you great works from Socrates to MLK. And they dont
even charge taxpayers for it!!!!

However, the imposed alone time lent itself to the creation of an amazing album
with deep introspection and reflections on prison life, self, religion versus
spirtuality, the music industry, poverty and all the other shit that makes libs dicks
hard.
Gif of Cartman liking Scott Teathermans Tears with Caption Youre Tears are
Delicious

While the album was a critical success and enjoyed extended popularity on college
stations, Binary Star split soon after Masters of the Universe and never saw
commercial success because Everything that glitters ain't gold, and every gold
record don't glitter that's for damn sure.

Top Tracks
Reality Check
Solar Powered
Evolution of Man
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Part I & II
Honest Expression *********


5. Big Pun Capitol Punishment


The first album was 99 percent hard core to show you I was the best rhymer
in the world. -Pun

When Jay-Z released Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life in 1998, he was not the undisputed heir
to Bigs NYC crown. Big Pun, a 5 million pound Puerto Rican rapper battled Hova for
the top spot and his debut Capitol Punishment showcased a flow and lyrical assault
that somehow managed to rhyme every word with every other word in a way that
has not been replicated since. Narrowly loosing to Jay at the 1999 Grammies for
album of the year, Puns career began to blow up. Unfortunately, Pun would also
blow up. He would loose his lifelong battle with weight control, swelling to 856
pounds and impleading his signature style of delivery, (In CP, his breaths are left in
so you can tell when he does a whole verse on a single breath which is kinda nifty).
He would eventually deliver a hamstrung (did somebody say ham?)

Heres Pun Making Fat Joe look like Skinny Joe(just kidding, Fat Joe still looks fat as fuck in this)

sophomore album before dying of complications of obesity in 2000. Unfortunately
for Pun, apparently eating food till you die is less sexy then eating a shotgun Cobain
style and with only Fat Joe to carry on the Terror Squad legacy, Pun dropped off
radar unless you have spent more than 5 minutes with a Puerto Rican.
Top Tracks
All the skits- skits are second only to Redman skits, listening to a 500 pound Pun tell
stories of running train with Fat Joe is fucking hilarious. (See picture above and
thank yourself for that vivid mental image)
Super Lyrical
Still Not a Player
Dream Shatterer
Beware
Twinz (Deep Cover 98)********* Bonus points to anyone who can pick up what Pun
is putting down in the first verse, especially between the 25 and 30 second mark
without looking up lyrics




5. 50 Cent Power of a Dollar (not actual full album and the datpiff link has super flat
EQ) Cough cough torrents cough dont taze me RIAA)

When trying to describe Power of a Dollar, I was tempted to say that it is to 50 Cent
what Infinite is to Eminem. However, Im more tempted to say that it is The Wire in
liquid lyrical form because it flows the reality of street life. (Again, youll have to
trust my Minnesotan roots). Growing up I was firmly in Games camp and had to
agree when he said shit like:
We getting tired of you talkin about who you shot
I'll use another six bars to tell you who you not
You ain't 50 Cent, he went out like a gangsta
You went out with Vivica, three months after Wanksta
Get Rich or Die Tryin, we thought you was hot
Now the same nigga wanna take us to the Candy Shop
C'mon man, what happened to the thug?
Now you could find in the club, him and Lloyd Banks hugging

300 Bars and Runnin -Honorable mention (Ive heard that if you listen closely on a
dark and stormy night, you can still here 50 Cents rap career getting tore up worse
than Big Puns asshole after eating so hard at a buffet that the police were called and
he was forced to pay for three people.)


However, the first time someone played Power of a Dollar for me, all I could think of
were some lines from another New York giant, Jay-Z when he said,
I gave you prophecy on my first joint, and y'all lamed out
Didn't really appreciate it, 'til the second one came out.
I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars
They criticized me for it, yet they all yell holla
While 50 fell of in the rap game and has had to turn back to hustling, (if you think an
ex crack dealer bottling tap water, cutting it with a tiny bit of flavoring and then
selling it legally for a 3000% upmark to a bunch of white people as a health product
isnt hustling on a poetic level then get the fuck out) he certainly left the game with
one lyrical classic that deserves to be listened to.

Top Tracks
Ghetto Quran (Forgive Me) The song 50 supposedly got shot over
Da Repercussions
Slow Doe
Power of the Dollar
Im A Hustler******

This list is certainly entirely exhaustive and if you have other views fuck you, youre
wrong and your musical taste sucks. Dont fucking mention your favorite albums in
the comments below.